The Wilson Winch Wheel:
Just as we were getting ready to leave Ft. Lauderdale we received an email from an ex-coworker who knew Robert Wilson, a sailor and inventor. Wilson is from NJ and wanted to know if we would be interested in testing out his new circular winch handle design. Being engineers and always looking for ways to improve our boat we said sure and he promptly shipped us a couple of his prototypes.
If you want to contact Robert Wilson to find out more about his invention, his email address is Robharps@ix.netcom.com.
1-21-98: We have finally done some sailing and are most impressed with the winch wheel. Colleen particularly likes it because it really does allow her to crank the jib in easier than with our conventional handles. It is somewhat awkward to store and place into the winch so we do not always use it. However, if we are on one tack or power reaching for a few miles we always put it in and this is where it comes into it's own.
4-4-99: Email didn't work from Panama so we'll have to write a short note about the winch wheel here instead. We now have several thousand miles using the wheel and still love it. The harder the wind blows the more often we use it. Another place we use it regularly is in winching our dinghies onboard. They weigh quite a bit and the added leverage of using two hands on the wheel in the tight confines of our halyard winch, under the dodger, really helps. With a conventional winch handle, Colleen can barely winch the dinghy out of the water. With the Wilson Winch Wheel, she hardly breaks a sweat! The rubber is holding up well so far in the tropical sun. We do wish it was a little lighter and locked into the winch (one of these days the mainsheet is going to catch it and send it overboard). We hope these improvements are in the works. When we first received it, we were doubtful and didn't think we would ever pay for one, however our experience with it had changed our thinking.
3-27-00: Thought you all might like to know that we still have the Winch Wheel onboard and are still using it. It sat outside for the entire Australian summer because I forgot to put it away before we left and the rubber held up fine!
Good luck with the marketing....
Here are some pictures of the winch wheel stored on the stern pulpit and in the starboard winch on SIMMER:
